The King of Fighters XII (KOF
XII) is the latest installment of The King
of Fighters series. SNK Playmore announced that it is
abandoning the Atomiswave system and is moving its most
popular game franchises to the Taito Type X2 arcade
system. KOF XII uses newly-drawn 2D sprites on 2D
backgrounds. Due to the time the developers took to make the
sprites, there are 20 playable characters (the lowest number of
characters ever had in a game from the series). The game was
released in Japan in April 2009 for arcades. Home versions of the
title for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (PS3)
had a worldwide release in July 28 of the same year. Like The King of Fighters '98
and The King of Fighters
2002, this game does not have a storyline; the saga from
Ash
Crimson that started in King of Fighters
2003 will finish in a sequel.

Contents

Gameplay

KOF XII uses the usual 3-on-3 team system with each
fight consisting of up to five rounds. However, the Tactical Shift
System from The King of Fighters
2003 has been removed. KOF XII also introduces
the "critical counter" system. When a player lands a close strong
punch as a counter, the character enters into a critical counter
mode where the player has a short amount of time wherein their
character can link multiple attacks together. Once the critical
counter's time period has expired the player can finish with a
special move. The new "Guard Attack" feature allows a fighter to
intercept and hit an incoming opponent's strike damage free (even
Desperation Moves can be repelled in this fashion). Finally, there
is also a "clash" system in place (called the Sousai or
"Deadlock") wherein characters who land blows on one another with
matched timing, the engine will generate a 'break' effect and push
the characters away from one another into a neutral standing. As it
happened with The King of Fighters '98 and The King of
Fighters 2002, the game does not contain a storyline allowing
the return of several characters depending on their status in the
series. Additionally, there are no official teams, leaving the
player to create any team to use.[5]
Players can still dash, backstep, and perform rolls as their evade.
The Guard Breaks from previous games can now be done at any
time.

Characters

The arcade version of the game features a roster of 20
characters, which is half the amount of characters featured in
The King of Fighters XI.
With the exception of the Hero Team from The King of Fighters
2003 and the debut of Raiden from
Fatal Fury in the series, the
character roster is composed primarily of characters from early
KOF games prior to the NESTS storyline, with the majority
of them reverting to their classic KOF and
pre-KOF (Kensou and Athena are wearing the outfits of
their Psycho
Soldier counterparts) designs and move set as the SNK
staff wanted to return to the original concept from The King of
Fighters series.[6]
Raiden, however, was initially meant to appear as his unmasked
persona from Fatal
Fury 2, "Big Bear"; in order to add more villains to the
game, the SNK staff decided to use his Raiden persona, which was
one of the sub-bosses from the first Fatal Fury.[7]KOF
XII does not feature any of the pre-defined teams
traditionally featured in the series, despite presence of members
from recurring teams such as the original Japan Team and the Fatal
Fury Team.[8] The
home versions feature two additional characters: Mature,
one of Iori Yagami's
teammates from The King of Fighters '96,
and Elisabeth
Branctorche, who starred in KOF XI as the leader of
the Rivals Team. Both characters sport new outfits.[9]

Home
versions

The game was released for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360
consoles in July 28, 2009.[4]
SNK Playmore decided to use the PS3 as the PlayStation 2 would not
have been able to handle the new graphics from the game.[10]
Some versions from the game also include English voices for each
character, but the player is able to select between English and
Japanese audio.[6]
SNK and Igntion later confirmed that the home version would have
over twenty-two playable characters and at least two of them will
be hidden. They also feature new bonus modes as well as a gallery
and two types of control schemes to match player level.[11]
Although it has been reported that both consoles would be able to
have different numbers of modes, Ignition's Director of Business
Development, Shane Bettenhausen, confirmed both
ports would have the same number of players.[10]
SNK Playmore also released a USB Arcade Stick of the game for the
PlayStation 3 on July 16, 2009.[12]
Ignition Entertainment announced that there would be differences
between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, with regards to
online play. The PlayStation 3 version have clan options, while the
Xbox 360 version uses TrueSkill.[13]

To decide the cover for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports,
Ignition started a survey on May 4, 2009 in which users from their
forum could vote between two covers they wanted to see in the game.
While both covers use various characters, one uses Kyo Kusanagi in the
center and the other Iori Yagami.[14][15] When
the two surveys ended, Ignition started two new ones, in which
people had vote between the previous winners and the Japanese
covers from the game for both consoles.[16][17]

Ignition Entertainment is currently responding to the outcry
from fans regarding online gameplay and attempting to negotiate
with SNK Playmore with regards to implementing a new netcode or
revising the current enough that the online play becomes more
suitable for smooth play.[18]

Development

On February 14, 2008; the first gameplay footage was revealed to
the world showcasing the new, much larger, higher-resolution pixel art sprites at the
Arcade Operators Union Amusement Expo (AOU) 2008. The SNK staff
decided to create the new graphics during 2005 and 2006, and
commented that they spent more than three times longer developing
it than the previous game.[19] A
location test was scheduled in April, but it was canceled since SNK
was looking for games made by other companies. They mentioned that
if they worked for April 2008, they would developed less than 20
characters. As such, they decided to wait more for location
test.[5] In
March 2009, Ignition Entertainment confirmed
they will release worldwidely, the home versions of KOF
XII for PS3 and Xbox 360.[3]
Shane Bettenhausen, Director of Business Development with Ignition
commented that they made the release worldwidely in order to
commemorate The King of Fighter's 15-Year Anniversary.[20]

The game underwent a complete graphical overhaul, confirmed by
Nona, artist in charge of the art in the The
King of Fighters XI endings. All the sprites used in
previous games for over 10 years were dropped and replaced with new
high definition sprites. The programmers have stated their
intention is to create the "ultimate 2D fighting game".[19]
It was later revealed at AOU 2008 that KOF XII would use
newly-drawn 2D sprites on detailed 2D
backgrounds. Producer Masaaki Kukino informed Kotaku that the game
is one hundred percent hand drawn, there being zero cel
shading in the game.[21] The
renewals for the sprites were made due to negative reaction from
the remake from The King of Fighters '94;
the staff came to the conclusion that they had to make new sprites
instead of basing them from old versions as they used to make in
previous games. Kukino adds that each character took between
sixteen and seventeen months to be done by 10 designers together
along with Nona who revised them. However, due to the difficulties
that it took to make this new designs, there were only 20 playable
characters for the arcade version, the lowest number ever in a game
from the series.[5]

Developers of the game commented that their objective was to
redraw all of the characters to give them more natural moves and
more attractive designs. Due to the time it took to make the new
designs, the game will not continue the storyline from the previous
games. Due to this there will not be default teams even though some
of their characters are playable. However, they confirmed they will
finish Ash Crimson's storyline which started in The King of Fighters
2003 in a future game. Between all the characters that
were redrawn, Ash was the one who they worked the most. They
reworked his moves and speech to be more consistent with the rest
of the cast. In comparison to KOF XI which used different
artists for introductions, backgrounds, winning poses, etc., all of
illustrations of this game will be made by Nona since the staff
wanted to make the drawings more united. Although, SNK keeps using
the same people for music they used in the previous game, the staff
is not specifically conducting it.[5]

In the making of the designs, Nona first made 2D character
graphics in dot-pixel forms. The team from SNK then takes Nona's
works and uses 3D software tools to make the first 3D for
character. After selecting the moves from each characters, they
were all changed to 2D to be used as a base for the finished work.
Then, Nona and the staff added details to the original designs such
as expressions and more descriptive clothes. Finally, the staff
makes fixes to each design to make the ones that would appear in
the game. Nona found problems with the new designs since they were
much bigger than the ones used in previous titles, noting them to
be almost twice as big. As a result, the color palette and the
details of the dot-pixels also increased.[6]

During the 2009 E3, IGN awarded KOF XII as the best fighting
game, noting the new graphics as well as the gameplay.[29] On
the other hand, in the Game Critics Awards from the E3
2009, KOF XII lost to Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate
All-Stars in the same category.[30] It
also won three Best Fighting Game of E3 2009 awards from GameSpot, 1UP.com and GameSpy.[31]

Prior to its release, various video games publications have
commented on KOF XII. Ryan Clements from IGN celebrated
the new graphics as among the best that a 2D game could have.
Although he noted the gameplay to be very similar to previous
KOF games, he found satisfying the new game mechanics that
allow players to counterattack opponents' combos.[32] 1UP
writer Richard Li found the gameplay to be a mix between Garou:
Mark of the Wolves, Street Fighter III and The King of Fighters '94.
Like Clements, Li found the gameplay similar to previous titles
from the series, but noted that SNK added new revisions which make
the game to be "a new experience."[33]
McKinley Noble from GamePro also liked the game's graphics, but
most notably the background scenery of a European villa, which he
noted to be a good example of the new design.[34]
Although he lamented the removal of various mechanics featured in
previous games such as the Tactical Shift System, Noble liked the
addition of the new critical counter systems as "split-second
timing is a critical key for pulling out a decisive victory."[35] Andy
Eddy from Teamxbox.com found the new artsyle to be a bit weird due
to the interpretations from various cultures as shown in the
backgrounds as well due to the fact they are distracting from the
fights.[36]
However, he liked the cast of playable character as well as the
addition of Elizabeth and Mature to the home versions due their new
designs and fighting styles.[37]

Shortly following the release of the game, critical response has
mostly been negative. It received a C from 1UP's Richard Li who
notes that various parts of the game would induce players to "rage
quit" out of their matches. Graphics were commented to be initially
good, but later criticized due how different some characters look
in this game from previous KOF titles.[26]
IGN's Ryan Clements commented that despite graphical overhaul the
game was "disappointing". He found the new graphics to be "smoothly
animated", but added that the backgrounds are limited.[28]
Although Andrew Park from GameSpot praised the redesign from
several characters' appearances and gameplay, he still noted that
there are better 2D fighting video games due to how several
features added in KOF XI were removed from KOF
XII and the poor quality from the online mode.[27]
GamingAge's Jim Cordeira gave it a C+ commenting "It's a
reboot/re-birth alright, albeit a seemingly unfinished one."
Although he also added that KOF XII "is a good enough
start", he remarked that other fighting games such as Street Fighter
IV or BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger were more
entertaining.[38]

In the website GameRankings, the PS3 version of KOF
XII received a percent of 60.82% based on eleven reviews. The
Xbox 360 version was given a percent of 66.13% based on fifteen
reviews.[22][23]Metacritic gave the
PS3 game an average of 58 based on ten critics while the Xbox 360
received an average of 63 based on seventeen reviews.[24][25]

Other
media

SNK Playmore developed the cellphone series KOFXII Tokusetsu
Corner for Yahoo and imode networks on August 1, 2008. They
initially developed four backstories based on the characters for
the series.[39]
Months later, SNK published these novelizations in the official
website from the game along with the addition of new ones based on
Athena Asamiya, Shen Woo and Kim Kaphwan.[8] In
April 2009, Lucky Dragon Comics and Animation LTD will publish a
new comic series based on KOF XII and KOF 2002:
Unlimited Match. It will be written by Nekketsu Otto and
illustrated by Khoo
Fuk Lung.[40] A guidebook from
the game was also released on July 30, 2009.[41] The
same guidebook will be published in North America on August 28,
2009 by BradyGames.[42]

The King of Fighters XII (KOF XII) is the
latest installment of The King of
Fighters series. SNK Playmore abandoned the Atomiswave
system and moved its most popular game franchises to the Taito Type
X2 arcade system. KOF XII uses newly-drawn 2D sprites on detailed
2D backgrounds. Due to the time the developers took to make the
sprites, there are only 20 playable characters (the lowest number
of characters in a game from the series). The game was released in
Japan on April 10, 2009 for arcades, while home versions will
be released worldwidely in July of the same year. Like The King of Fighters '98, this
game will not have a storyline; the saga from Ash Crimson that
started in King of Fighters 2003 will finish in a sequel.

KOF XII uses the usual 3-on-3 team system with each fight
consisting on 5 rounds. However, the Tactical Shift System from The King of Fighters 2003 has
been removed. KOF XII also introduces the "critical counter"
system. When a player lands a close strong punch as a counter, the
character enters into a critical counter mode where the player has
a short amount of time wherein their character can link multiple
attacks together. Once the critical counter's time period has
expired (signified by a green hit) the player can finish with a
special move. Finally, there is also a "clash" system in place
wherein characters who land blows on one another with matched
timing, the engine will generate a "break" effect and push the
characters away from one another into a neutral standing. As it
happened with The King of Fighters '98 and The King of Fighters 2002,
the game does not contain a storyline allowing the return of
several characters depending on their status in the series.
Additionally, there are no official teams, leaving the player to
create any team to use.

The game returns to its standard four button layout. Players can
still dash, backstep, and perform rolls as their evade. The Guard
Breaks from previous games can now be done at any time. Super
special moves will now be executed in real-time and in a similar
manner as KOF '94, meaning that it's a one level
superbar that gradually drains once it is MAX. Some moves will take
some time to charge.